Matthew wrote to show that Christ
was the
Messiah and fulfilled the Jewish prophecies.

When
the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,
and one of them (a scholar of the law) tested him by asking, "Teacher, which
commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love
the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is
like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the
prophets depend on these two commandments."

The
instant-response feature of many Internet news reports provides a platform for
often provocative comments. After a news account reporting the death of
Steve Jobs, the genius apple computer entrepreneur, "Elijah from Portland, USA,"
aside from his anti-altruistic taunt, raises an interesting (and frankly, quite
common) contrast. He writes, "I would take 1/2 of a Steve Jobs over
500,000 Ghandis and 500,000 Mother Teresas any day of the week. Jobs
contributed to the world, while the other two were sanctimonious hypocrites who
parasitism and obdurate deceptiveness have been strategically deified by
politically correct traitors, RIP Steve Jobs." While we can all agree in
our prayers that Steve Jobs rests in peace, what does it mean to "contribute to
the world" and how do we recognize the contribution?

In
thoughtful moments, most people have a desire to contribute in some way to the
world. From the rocket scientist launching astronauts into space to the
fast-food cook flipping burgers, "job satisfaction" comes not only with a
paycheck, but also with a sense that one's work somehow makes life for oneself
or others easier, safer, healthier, more enjoyable and pleasurable.

There
have been many magnificent contributions to the world: the internal combustion
engine making transportation easy and often enjoyable; monster farm equipment
making farming efficient and food plentiful; computer and satellite technology
facilitating the instantaneous sharing of information; the development of
antibiotics and vaccines that save so many lives. Of course there have
been inventions that are more problematic in the grand scheme of things such as
weapons of mass destruction, viruses for use in germ warfare, jumbo jets, when
under the control of terrorists, or iPhones, when used for texting while
driving. Brilliant inventions and impressive technological progress in
themselves may "contribute to the world," but depending upon use, the
contributions may or may not make the world a better place to live.
Something more is needed.

St.
Paul warns of the futility of every human endeavor that is undertaken without
love. He writes, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have
not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic
powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith,
so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away
all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain
nothing," (1 Cor. 13:1-3) Love is the primary ingredient that ought to
direct all enterprise and every venture. Most would agree there is nothing
controversial in this assertion, provided the definition of love is limited to
the usual Hallmark greeting card platitudes. In any case, we are making
progress in our quest to recognize "contributions to the world." The
contributions must be loving and good.

How
do we know what is really good? After all, many people hold that racial
bigotry is good; that pornography is playful, harmless and even therapeutic;
that "test-tube babies" and embryonic stem-cell research serve life; that an
injection of a death serum to end the life of a suffering human being is
"merciful." Others, including Catholics, argue to the contrary: These
things are not good and merciful, but evil and degrading. In the quest to
recognize authentic "contributions to the world," it is imperative to ask in
these maters, "Who is right? "In the Gospel, after being addressed as
"good teacher," Christ responds, "Why do you call me good? No one is good
but God alone." God alone defines "good." Hence, attempts to
redefine what is good without reference to God inevitably lead to relativism and
the painfully common modern-day horrors. Love is good and true good is
godly.

In
this week's Gospel, Christ confirms the two great commandments upon which all
others depend: Love God and love neighbor. It is the love of God that
shows us how to love our neighbor. In discovering God through the Church,
we discover goodness and, in our response of love for God, are given the grace
to authentically love others. Love is the reason the Word took flesh and
dwelt among us. And the highest form of love is sacrificial, a love of the
other without regard for self: "Greater love than this no man has than to give
up his life for his friends." This is the love of Christ on the cross.
This is the love a mother has for a child or a soldier has for his buddies.
It is the love of contemplative religious who have left everything to love God
in prayer and to pray for us in the world. Mother Teresa abbreviated
Christ's command with her simple maxim, "Love until it hurts"

The
research and development that goes into every invention, every advance in
technology, must go beyond the love for money and pleasure to truly "contribute
to the world." It "hurts" for a scientist to refuse biomedical research
that violates God's law. It "hurts" from a monetary and career point of
view for a nurse or an anesthesiologist to refuse to participate in a
sterilization procedure. It "hurts" for parents to guard their children
from the impurity of television and the Internet. These things "hurt" but
they truly "contribute" to a culture of love and life.

Steve
Jobs was born out of wedlock in 1955. His biological parents (and the laws
of our nation) were godly enough to allow for his adoption. In a post-Roe
v. Wade nation, how many unborn computer geniuses with God-given talent have the
same chance to "contribute to the world?" Please, God, may we always use
ever "contribution to the world" in a godly way. Steve Jobs, may God
reward you for your contributions to the world and may you rest in peace.